Adhesive applicator



June 26, 1951l v M. B. GWINN 2,558,084 ADHESIVE APPLICATOR v A 'H3 Sheet-Sheet 1 Filed Sept. 26, 1947 /QTToP/vf Ys June 26, 1951 M B GWlNN 2,558,084

ADHESIVE APPLICATOR Filed sept. 2e, 1947 s sheets-sheet 2 June 26, 1951 M. B. GWINN l 2,558,084

ADHESIVE APPLICTOR I Filed Sept. 26, 1947 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 ,DEP M ma( TTQAP/YEKS Patented June 26, 1951 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE ADHESIVE APPLICATOR Myron B. Gwinn, Denver, Colo.

Application September 26, 1947, Serial No. 7 76,331

1 Claim. 1

This invention relates to adhesive applicators and especially to apparatus for coincidently applying adhesive to opposite faces of opposite marginal portions of strip material and drying the same all in a continuous operation.

The invention is primarily designed to apply an adhesive to the top face of a strip of paper along one marginal portion thereof and to coincidently apply adhesive to the bottom face of that strip along the other marginal portion of the strip and to dry both areas of adhesive in order to prepare such strip for the formation therefrom of retainingor packaging bands such, for example, as are used on laundered shirts. Such ban-ds are packed flat, one end portion of each band having its upper surface coated with adhesive and the other end portion having its under surface thus coated, whereby when a laundered and folded shirt is laid on the central, uncoated, portion of a band and the coated ends of the band are folded over the shirt and interrelatively overlapped, their coated surfaces will be face to face and, under slight pressure, will adhere to each other thus securely banding the shirt. It will be understood that the adhesive used will adhere to paper While moist but When dried onto the surface of a strip or sheet of paper, it will not adhere to other paper even if pressed against it but will adhere, under even slight pressure, to another surface similarly coated.

The primary purpose of the present invention is the preparation of a strip or long sheet of paper which may be cut crosswise to form the bands above described.

rIlhe strips or long sheets coated by the apparatus constituting the present invention may have many uses but the shirt-band-forming use is the primary one and is here used for illustration.

An object of the invention is to provide an apparatus which, in a continuous operation, will coincidently partially coat with adhesive the opposite faces of a strip or long sheet oi material such as paper, confining such coating respectively to the two marginal portions of the strip or sheet, and drying said adhesive.

A further object is to provide, in such an apparatus, a series of rollers around which rollers, successively, said strip or sheet may be run, said rollers being adapted to always avoid contact of their surfaces with the coated portions of said strip or sheet.

A further object of the invention is to provide, in such an apparatus, improved mechanism for applying the adhesive and for regulating the thickness of the applied adhesive.

A further object is to provide improved means for the drying of said adhesive coatings during the running of said strip or sheet over and through said series of rollers.

A further object is to provide an apparatus for the accomplishment of all of said objects and purposes which shall be of eXtreme simplicity and economy as regards original construction and economical, simple, substantially automatic, eiicient and long lived in operation.

With the foregoing and other objects in View, all of which shall hereinafter more fully appear, the invention comprises certain novel constructions, arrangements and combinations of parts as will now be described and defined in the appended claim and as are illustrated, in preferred embodiment, in the accompanying drawing, in which Figure 1 is a diagrammatic view, being substantially a side elevation of the complete machine with the nearesides of the supporting frames removed.

Figure 2 is a View, on enlarged scale, on line 2 2 of Fig. l and including the side of one supporting frame omitted from Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is an elevation View, on enlarged scale, of one of the adhesive-applying devices.

Figure 4 is a View on line 4 4 of Fig. 3.

Figure 5 is a bottom View of the adhesiveapplying cylinder shown at Fig. 4.

Fig-ure 6 is a fragmentary elevation, on a reduced scale, of one end frame on line En@ of Fig. 1.

The invention, in its simple and preferred embodiment as illustrated, includes an end frame A shown at Fig. 2, comprising standards 'l carrying between them a series of rods 8, on each of which is revolubiy mounted an idle roller 9; a rod 8a With idle roller 9a, spaced above the oor E a distance suitable for the purpose later described, and also carrying between the upper ends of standards l a rod il) on which is revolubly mounted an idle roller l I. Another end-frame B is suitably spaced from frame A and may be supported in any suitable manner, being illustrated as supported on a Wall C at the Voutlet of a Wind-tunnel D. Frame B has side members l2, similar to supports '5, and rods i3 like rods 8 and idle rollers i3d like rollers 9.

Resting on the floor and engaging standards 'l are brackets i4 carrying between them idle roller rods I5, I6 and Il. The brackets also support the adhesive applying mechanisms later de- 3 scribed. Lugs i8, secured in ioor E, have the ends of tension arms I9 pivotally mounted therein and the other ends of the tension arms carry rod with idle roller 2i rotatably mounted on the rod. Springs 22 fastened to the arms and the iioor provide for the tension.

A liquid-adhesive reservoir 23 is supported on each bracket I4 and from each reservoir a pipe 24 runs through globe valve 25 to the applier 26. Each applier carries arcuate arms 2l between the ends of which is carried a regulating arm 23, pivoted at one end to one arm 2? as at 28a, its other end being seated on a threaded bolt 29 carried by the other arm 2l, wing nut 3u being provided on bolt 29. Arm 23 carries axle 31! on which roller 32 is rotatably mounted, being secured thereon by washer 33 and cotter pin 34.

The applier 26 is a hollow cylinder with the side between arms 2l flattened as at 26a, the flattened face being provided with a series of orices 35 communicating with the hollow interior.

On the oor at a convenient distance froln the roller 2l on standards 3E, there is rotatably mounted a roll 3l of the strip or long sheet of paper to which the adhesive is to be applied. The strip from this roll is threaded under tension arm roller 2l, thence around guide rollers i5, i6 and l1 and thence between the two adhesive applying mechanisms, each marginal portion of the strip being threaded between an applier and roller 32, thence around roller 9a, over lowest roller 9, around lowest roller |3arI and thence around rollers 9 and I3a and nally over roller Il and thence to any standard machine, diagrammatically indicated at X, Fig. l, for pulling the strip from roll 31 and through the apparatus along the line just described.

One of the adhesive applying devices (the one seen at Fig. l and the left one shown at Fig. 2)

is positioned with the applier 26 above, and the roller 32 below the strip as shown at Figs. 3 and 4, whereby to apply adhesive to the top face of the left marginal portion of the strip as it passes between the applier 26 and roller 32, the proximity of roller 32 to face 26a being regulated by operation of nut 30, whereby to regulate the extent to which the roller presses the strip against face 26a, thereby regulating the thickness of the layer of adhesive (supplied through orices applied to the strip. This layer of adhesive is indicated at 31a.

The other adhesive applying' device (the one shown in part at the right at Fig. 2) is reversed so that applier 26 is beneath the strip and applies adhesive to the under face of the strip and roller 32 is above the strip.

In order to avoid contact of the newly applied adhesive with the rollers, roller 9a and all of the rollers 9 are offset from the center line of the strip suiciently so the end or" the roller over which the `adhesive covered margin would run, were the roller on center with the strip, is positioned slightly inside of the inside line of the newly applied adhesive, all as clearly illustrated at Fig. 2 Where the area of newly applied adhesive, which is visible in that View, is at the left, indicated at Y, the rollers being set sumciently to the right so that the left ends of the rollers are to the right of inner line of the adhesive area.

The adhesive is applied to the other margin of the strip on the face thereof which is not visible at Fig. 2 except at Z where it comes oi roller il. Accordingly this area of newly applied adhesive never contacts roller 9c or rollers 9 because it is on the opposite face of the strip from that which engages these rollers so that all of these rollers may, as shown, extend to and beyond the right margin of the strip without danger of contacting the newly applied adhesive along the right margin.

When the strip comes to the rollers 13a at the other end of their travel, the opposite face of the strip" engages the rollers I3a Wherefore these rollers I3a are offset in a direction opposite to that in which roller 9a and rollers 9 are oset. Fig. 6 looks in the opposite direction from Fig. 2 and accordingly Fig. 6 shows rollers l3a offset to the right to avoid Contact with the newly applied adhesive Z which is at the left, in this view but at the right at Fig. 2.

Thus the strip moves around and through the two series of rollers without either area of adhesive ever contacting a roller until l l is reached by which time the adhesive has been thoroughly dried (as now to be described) and the roller Il may extend across and contact the entire width of the strip without affecting the adhesive area which contacts roller l l.

As above pointed out, the end frame B is conveniently positioned at the end of a wind tunnel or other opening in a wall and a fan 38 is positioned in this tunnel so as to inject a current of air along the reaches of the strip between the frames A and B and thereby hasten the drying of the adhesive on that face of the strip which is exposed to a current of air coming from the direction of fan 38, namely the area Y.

It will be understood that any suitable support may be provided for frame B other than the wall and that the wind tunnel is not essential to the operation of the apparatus so long as means are provided to project a current of air between the rollers i3d and along the reaches of the strip which are exposed to air coming from that direction. I have shown a single fan large enough to project a current of air through frame B, from top to bottom and from side to side. The exact size and position number and positions of fans is not material so long as a current or currents of air in substantial quantities be projected along the reaches of the strip to dry the adhesive.

Air is also projected from the direction of frame A along the reaches of the strip which are exposed from that direction (being the opposite face of the strip from that against which the air is projected by fan 38). I-Iere I have illustrated a fan 39 carried by frame A for this purpose. It will, of course, be understood that as many as desired of such or other fans of means of projecting air currents between and along the reaches of the strip from the direction of frame A may be provided.

The speed of travel of the strip and the amount and speed of the air currents as well as the numbers of rollers in the frames may be coordinately regulated or changed in Various Ways in order to accomplish the result of drying the applied adhesive before it reaches roller I l.

By means of the apparatus hereinabove described a strip adapted to be cut crosswise into shirt bands and the like, can be most eiiciently adhesive coated along its margins and on opposite sides in a continuous and very rapidly performed operation.

While I have illustrated and described many details of construction, there are many alterna. tive and equivalent structures which will occur to those skilled in the art and which are Within the scope and spirit of my invention and of the appended claim, and I am not to be restricted in 5 my protection to the details here illustrated and described.

I claim:

In apparatus for applying liquid adhesive to a continuous web of paper along a margin thereof, an applicator comprising a tubular body having aflattened face thereon adapted for slidable surface contact with the margin portion of a web, means positioned opposite, and adapted to exert pressure against the face, means for drawing a margin of a web across the face between the face and the pressure means, an adhesive reservoir, means associated with the applicator and with the reservoir whereby liquid adhesive may pass from the reservoir to the applicator, a

15 plurality of orifices in the flattened face aligned connected to the bracket beyond one side of said at face and the other end adjustably connected to the bracket beyond the other side of said face, the hinged movement being in a plane normal to the flattened face, and a roller carried by the arm intermediate said ends and adapted to Contact the face.

MYRON B. GWINN.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 146,240 Field Jan. 6, 1874 219,963 Mather Sept. 23, 1879 645,118 Moitt Mar, 13, 1900 1,320,550 Higgens Nov. 4, 1919 1,686,597 Bock Oct. 9, 1928 2,144,263 Lane Jan. 17, 1939 2,230,507 Wolff Feb. 4, 1941 2,249,200 Edwards July 15, 1941 

